A/N: REVAMPED, Comrade.
Day 2
"When I told you to come find me, I didn't mean later today, nor did I mean in the middle of the night. Also, did you skip out on the whole 'world crisis' thing, or did you really get it done that fast? Because these sorts of problems usually take time…"
The Doom Slayer said nothing as Ajuka led him and Tiamat through the Citadel, their footsteps echoing throughout the wide, palatial halls.
Tiamat stretched her arms above her head, letting out a satisfied sigh before she spoke in the Slayer's stead. "We got it all sorted out, so relax. Serafall just launched the video, so there's nothing to do but wait and see how the world responds to it."
"Video?"
"Yep. That girl had one of her media teams make a video that introduces Master to the supernatural world," Tiamat explained. "It also gives Master credit for disturbing the peace. It was just broadcasted a few minutes ago."
"I see. And since it just went live, there's nothing to do but wait."
"Mhm. And Master wants to spend his time wisely, so that's what we're doing."
"Which leads you to getting started on your research, which leads you to me because I know where the library is."
"And you asked to be a part of this. Don't forget that."
"Right…" Ajuka fidgeted as the group stopped at an elevator. He incautiously jammed the elevator button with a thumb, resisting the urge to scratch the side of his head. "You know, there's this thing called 'sleeping' that most people tend to do around this time."
"Ooh, someone sounds grumpy." Tiamat smirked amusedly.
"It's almost twelve."
"Aw, does the baby need his beauty rest~?" Tiamat gave Ajuka a teasing smile to which he replied with a dry look. "I suppose that's why children do have bedtimes."
"Tiamat…I'm not a child."
"Aren't you? I'm more than five times older than you. I'm old enough to be your mother."
Ajuka made a face. "I don't think that makes you any more mature than I am."
"Maybe it doesn't, but it still isn't that late, especially since you're a devil, a creature of the night." Tiamat continued, gesturing towards the devil. "And before you say anything, you're also a Satan. Could you even really afford sleep at a time like this?"
Ajuka finally decided to massage the bridge of his nose. "First of all, I'm the Satan of Technology, Tiamat, so I don't have to deal with a lot of the political nonsense. Second, yes, devils may feel better during the night, but we still need sleep, and it's pretty much a cultural norm at this point to be active during the day and rest during the night. Unless you're a succubus or something like that. In fact, I have a consistent schedule, and I was going to turn in for the night, but then you showed up in my office."
The elevator doors opened with a loud ring, prompting Ajuka to step inside. The other two followed, and the elevator car jostled slightly under the Slayer's weight.
"So you do have a bedtime. How cute. Y'know, I sleep only on a monthly basis, and Master doesn't need sleep at all. His stamina is limitless." Tiamat gave Ajuka a smug, almost suggestive look, to which the devil blinked in disbelief.
"Was that an…innuendo?"
"I don't know. Was it an innuendo, or just the truth?"
"I'd rather not know the answer."
Tiamat snickered at that. The Slayer watched the interaction in mild confusion. After a moment, whatever train of thought Ajuka had was halted, and he turned his attention to the elevator panel.
He waved a hand over the panel of elevator buttons, and another one appeared below all the rest. He pressed it with a thumb, and the elevator doors shut tightly. The elevator didn't move.
The Slayer tilted his head. Something was happening, but he couldn't exactly tell what.
"Hm? Teleportation?" Tiamat asked confusedly.
"Yep." Ajuka grunted. "The CPL isn't really a library. It's more of an archive for government use, protected in a pocket dimension that only high-ranking government authorities can access. I forgot to mention that part."
"So…if we didn't come to get you…we wouldn't have been able to get to the library at all."
"Yep. So anyway, since I'm so generous and probably won't be getting sleep any time soon, what are we looking for first?" Ajuka ignored the squint Tiamat gave him, regarding the Slayer with curiosity. "What do you hope to find out of this venture of yours?"
A reasonable question. The Slayer sent Tiamat a mental message. She huffed. "Hm… Looks like Master wants to find the ones responsible for stealing his technology first. Since the Relics of Doom have been scattered across dimensions for millennia, it would be wise to begin research with the most recent activity."
The Slayer gave her another question to ask. "You mentioned that the Blood Marines and Crimson Juggernauts only came into commission recently?"
Ajuka nodded. "Correct. I was the one who approved of their use in private militaries. The ones who'd proposed them were the clan heads of the Great King Faction. I will admit, I did overlook whoever authorized such a project. I don't know who it could be, considering that the Great King Faction loves to adhere to pure-blood supremacy."
Tiamat groaned. "Ugh. Right, those guys. Usually guys like those would do anything to not rely on the power of anything else but their own."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. Those machines helped offset our lower population with autonomous firepower, and they're damn near impossible to hack since each one has a unique energy signature."
"Hmm… I've always seen them in passing, but I've never really fought one until today," Tiamat mused. She smirked. "Do you mind if I borrow a few as punching bags?"
"I wouldn't, but the faction might."
"Aw," Tiamat pouted.
The elevator let out a metallic ring as it came to a stop, and the doors opened up into the darkness of a tall, cavernous, unlit corridor. The Slayer exited the elevator first, his footfalls echoing into the darkness.
He could see that the corridor was devoid of doors on either side in favor of unlit candles in small alcoves, interspersed by towering stone statues the height of Tyrants in even larger alcoves. Hanging from the ceiling were large chandeliers of unlit candles, and on the ground was a single, wide red carpet that led all the way down the long corridor.
Ajuka and Tiamat's distinct footsteps echoed as they followed the Slayer, and when they neared the first pair of unlit candles, they blazed to life, as did the chandeliers above them.
Tiamat stopped walking for a moment to admire the presentation. "Neat."
At the end of the corridor, the red carpet stopped below the feet of a massive pair of handleless wooden double doors that were tall enough for a Hell Baron to easily step through. When they reached them, Ajuka stepped to the front of the group.
"Allow me."
He placed a hand on one door and whispered some incantation. At his beckoning, a shimmering magic circle of a brilliant blue swirled into existence, slowly spinning on the surface of the doors.
"Alright. Just give it one second. It's been some time since—"
There was a jarring sound like a low, synthesized horn, and the soft blue light of the circle abruptly exploded into a deep, angry red.
Ajuka stepped back with the slightest frown. "That's…not supposed to happen."
Slowly, the devil turned around. "Oh dear…"
Tiamat and the Slayer followed his gaze, staring down the way they came. At first, they didn't understand, but then they saw that the eyes of the statues were glowing a fiery blue.
The ground began to tremor, subtly at first, then the tremors grew and grew. Tiamat took up a cautious stance and the Slayer's fists clenched when the tremors became so great that the building itself began to shake.
"Uh…" Ajuka's confusion was exemplified when one of the statues suddenly jumped from its alcove and landed with a loud shockwave-inducing crack. His hair blew back slightly from the force of the wind.
"Ajuka…?" Tiamat asked as another statue leapt from its alcove. "Why is this happening?"
"I don't know." Another statue leapt from its alcove, then another. With a puzzled frown, he straightened his arm and threw his open palm forward. "Cease!"
Two more statues landed, rising to their full, towering heights, blue orbs glaring down at the group of three, or more specifically…
Ajuka's eyes widened. "They're targeting the Slayer?"
Tiamat clicked her tongue with a glare. "Of course they are. What creature hasn't tried to fight Master yet? It's as if everything hates him!"
That couldn't be right. These statues were inanimate objects running on magic. They had no capacity for hate.
Ajuka squinted as the statues gripped their weapons and began lumbering forward without any sense of self-preservation. They weren't listening to his commands because according to them, the danger that the Slayer presented was greater than his authority.
But how could that be? The Slayer wasn't openly hostile to anybody. Wait.
"No…it's the other way around," Ajuka realized. "It's the Slayer's sheer hate combined with his overwhelming power that draws their attention." He stepped forward. "Stand still, Slayer."
The Slayer turned his head and stared at Ajuka for a moment. When the man's fists slowly unclenched, Ajuka understood that he was listening. He waved a hand, and two small, shimmering green barriers composed of triangles formed between the Slayer and the statues, and the Slayer and the doors.
Quickly, Ajuka threw his open hand forward at the statues again. "Cease."
This time, the statues froze in place, and after ten solid seconds of a tense silence, the statues slowly lumbered back into their original positions.
Both Tiamat and the Slayer looked at Ajuka. "What?"
Tiamat blinked in disbelief. "How did you know to do that?"
"...Just call it the gut feeling of an enthusiast of the scientific method." Ajuka shrugged. "None of the magic used for our autonomous defense systems is sentient, so they don't respond to just power. They're set to respond to emotions and negative intent. The Slayer doesn't always show it, I'm sure, but," he looked at the Slayer, "aren't you always angry?"
The Slayer shrugged. He was, but it didn't really affect his thoughts and actions unless he was seething.
"Precisely," Ajuka pointed at him. "Those statues responded to the sheer hate and anger you have for everything wrong in this world. I'm actually willing to bet that those beasts that attacked you in the mountains the other day attacked you for that reason—they wouldn't have thrown themselves to suicide fighting such a powerful being, trust me. It may even be why our cannons fired at you when you showed up within the barrier of the city."
"Eh? Really?" Tiamat looked at the Slayer with sad eyes. "Damn. How could I have not figured that out…"
"Maybe it is because you're his familiar? You may sense more of the positive than the negative that way."
"That's true, I guess…"
The Slayer suppressed an internal groan. So his very existence was provoking? What the hell was with this bullshit world and its inhabitants innate abilities to sense emotions and power?
Ajuka found himself tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose again. "Shall we continue then?"
"Let's."
After a short, awkward silence, Ajuka placed his hand on the door again, and this time, the doors opened with a groan. The three stepped through, and the doors slammed shut behind them, bathing them in darkness.
"Uh…" Tiamat blinked.
It was pitch black. There was absolutely nothing but a void of darkness in all directions. Yet, somehow, Tiamat, the Slayer, and Ajuka were all able to see each other clearly, illuminated by some unknown source.
Tiamat looked back and could see that the double doors were also there, illuminated perfectly, but there were no walls, no ceiling, only an endless void. She reached around the door just to check, and sure enough, there was no wall.
"A pocket dimension within a pocket dimension?" Tiamat inquired skeptically.
"Yep," Ajuka nodded. "Now, follow me."
It was clear he wasn't going to elaborate further. He started walking straight into the void with seemingly no destination in mind. The Slayer followed with a grunt, constantly scanning the environment for any irregularities, and Tiamat fell into step next to him, her tail flicking at the strangeness of the very atmosphere.
For a while it seemed like Ajuka was screwing with them, until there was a single shift in the void. Only a few feet from them, a sleek, black, miniature stone monolith of all things faded into existence in front of them.
Ajuka stopped in front of it as Tiamat tilted her head at the device. There appeared to be an array of keyboard inputs on the top of the monolith.
"Alright, here we are. Since you think the Red Army is using your technology, I think we should start there," Ajuka explained.
He typed something into the console, then pressed enter.
After a moment, the void beyond the monolith was awash with light. The light twisted and turned into a strange geometric pattern, almost like an array of neurons connecting from one neuron to another in a massive cloud of points represented as motes of light.
Ajuka circumvented the monolith, then reached into the cloud. He grabbed a single mote of light and pulled it out. The Slayer and Tiamat watched with interest as the mote of light expanded and took shape before it dispersed, leaving behind a folder, thick with papers. The latter's eyes went wide in slight surprise.
"This structure here shows any and all related documents to the Red Army, but I doubt this is what you want. This includes details like daily logs, repair manifests, and other irrelevant information," Ajuka explained.
With little care, he tossed the folder into the light structure, and it seemingly vaporized, becoming a mote of light before returning to its original place.
"We'll need to be a little more specific. Got anything in mind?"
The Slayer considered for a moment, then he approached the monolith and scanned it with the Praetor Suit. It took him just a moment to understand how the device worked, and once he did, he typed the inputs himself. Ajuka raised a brow when the Slayer pressed enter, and the light structure shifted, becoming only a single light.
"What did you…"
Without a word, the Slayer circumvented the monolith and reached out to the light structure, but rather than grabbing the mote, he scanned it with the Praetor Suit again. Almost instantly, information flooded his HUD.
Thousands of windows flashed sequentially so quickly that they would have given any normal man a seizure, but eventually, the flood of information stopped, and the center of the HUD was dominated by large, bold letters that read, 'PROJECT: RED ARMY'. After a second, the large title shrunk in size, placing itself in the corner of his HUD, then a series of documents and archives scrolled through the Slayer's visor. Words jumped from certain pages, setting themselves off to the side, and soon, things became comprehensible.
Project: Red Army was the successful attempt to reverse engineer ancient, alien technology that had been discovered over two-hundred years ago. Only one century ago, the Bael Clan authorized the project, and not soon after came the development of the Mark I Red Soldier—the first generation of the Red Army.
With every word that he read, the Slayer's brow knit further. The devils had definitely found sentinel technology—found being the operative word here.
If what he'd read was to be believed, they didn't steal Sentinel technology, and it wasn't given to them. They'd simply discovered it wasting away somewhere after who knows how long.
The implications ran through the Slayer's head. Was this an abandoned Sentinel world? The idea was ridiculous. The Sentinels rarely ever left entire planets alone. It would take a massive, world-shattering calamity, like the one that had occurred on Mars—the sinking of the planet's crust that produced the Lost City of Hebeth—for them to even consider leaving.
The Praetor Suit blipped, drawing the Slayer's attention. A single, high-resolution image appeared on his HUD. In the forefront, what looked to be a number of scientists stood, their faces censored. In the background, a gargantuan, green metallic head—a helmet befitting of a titan sat, unrusted despite its obvious age.
When the Slayer's eyes fell on it, he recognized it instantly. It was the head of an Atlan. His Atlan—the one from the Fortress of Doom.
"..."
A low, near silent groan left his throat. They were using his technology, the Atlan that he'd been rebuilding for his own amusement, to further the advancement of their own civilization. What's worse, he'd fixed that thing with an Argent core. If they'd yet to get to it, then he wouldn't let them. He glared at the one name he could associate with this whole situation.
The Bael Clan.
"Uh…Slayer?"
The Slayer ignored Ajuka, and even the concerned Tiamat, whose brows creased worriedly. The Slayer walked back to the terminal, then searched for terms regarding the Baels.
When he pressed enter, the light structure exploded into a massive network of interconnected lines that expanded into the air and past Ajuka and Tiamat, surprising both of them. They could barely see in the sheer mass of information. The Slayer simply reached up and allowed the Praetor Suit to collect it all.
Names, dates, locations—everything that he could possibly need about the Baels appeared on his HUD. He read through some of it quickly.
The Bael Clan, the most powerful devil clan in the Underworld, famous for their matter-annihilating Power of Destruction and their adherence to devil power and physical strength, was headed by Lord Bael, son of Zekram Bael. The Bael Castle was located far from here, sitting behind miles and miles and miles of Bael territory, but the location of his Atlan was entirely unknown.
The Slayer's aura bristled on his armor slightly. That was all the information he needed. He knew where he was going first. Not only could he recover a portion of his property, he could also potentially halt the discovery and extrication of the Argent core.
Argent Energy had the power to not just create interdimensional portals, it could break the walls between universes. If he could get to it, he may be able to create a dimension drive and jump to other universes if he so pleased. Maybe then he could return to the Sentinels.
But did he want to…?
The Slayer shook his head. He had been intelligent enough to install a fail-safe on the core. It couldn't be accessed by anyone but him, and if it was forcefully pried open, then it would collapse in on itself, destabilize into a singularity, then detonate in an Argent explosion that would obliterate everything for a hundred miles.
Unfortunately the fail-safe had been planted with the intention of decimating demons should he ever actually entertain the idea of piloting an Atlan to fight the demons rather than RIPPING & TEARING through them up-close and personal as usual. Now that the Atlan was under some prick's mansion, if anybody happened to be in the area if it went off, they'd be as good as dead.
The Slayer immediately moved onto the next issue at hand—the Relics of Doom. His collectibles. One of his hobbies and some of his most prized possessions. Even if they weren't Argent-enhanced relics of unrivaled power, he would have refused to leave this planet until he found them all.
He tapped away at the monolith, and this time, the light structure collapsed into a single mote of light that hovered directly over the monolith. He scanned it, but he found nothing useful. Nothing at all.
Shit.
He immediately turned his attention to the monolith itself. Maybe? He scanned it in hopes of finding anything at all. Information bombarded his visor, but nothing had anything to do with the Relics.
Disappointed, and slightly irritated, the Slayer closed his eyes for a moment, then he finally cleared the input on the monolith. With that, the last mote of light moved back, then descended into the ground, leaving nothing but the void once more. The Slayer turned to see Tiamat and Ajuka staring at him, the former clearly amazed but worried, the latter shocked and unsure.
"What…did you just do?" Ajuka stepped towards him, his eyes flitting from the Slayer's cold visor to the monolith, then back again.
"Master?"
The Slayer replied with information, sending everything useful he knew right into Tiamat's mind. The woman let out a sound between a gasp and a groan.
"O-Oh!"
"Tiamat?" Ajuka's expression became one of worry.
He stepped over to help, only for Tiamat to raise a hand. "I'm okay. It's just. Wow."
"What is it?"
"We're… Master is done here." Tiamat rubbed the side of her head.
"What?" Ajuka looked perplexed.
"Master has everything he needs to know. He's ready to get out of here."
"Wha—already!? How?"
"I don't know. Master?" She raised a brow at the Slayer. He sent her an answer. "Oh! Master's Praetor Suit—er, the armor that he wears, is able to interface with all sorts of technology, regardless of its age or origin, somehow. I don't really know how it works."
Ajuka's mouth fell open. "Well…what do you need me for if you have that?" The scientist seemed slightly bewildered. "Mind if I ask what you found?"
Tiamat was silent for a second. "It was the Bael Clan. They're the ones who'd come up with this Project: Red Army thing. According to recorded archives, the Bael Clan first discovered Master's technology two-hundred years ago before they started developing the Red Army one-hundred years after."
Ajuka adopted a thoughtful look. "The Bael Clan? Huh…" For a brief instant, his expression morphed into a frown before settling into a neutral stare. "That's even stranger than the GKF supporting the Red Army…" He looked at the Slayer wearily. "Well, I guess since you have what you need, what will you do now?"
The Slayer remained thoughtfully silent. Ajuka's eyes flitted down to the man's fists, which always seemed to be balled in irritation, anger, and any other related emotion, then he stared back into that cold visor.
"I'm going to take a guess and say that you are going to make an enthusiastic visit?" The Slayer's stillness was Ajuka's only answer. Ajuka sighed in resignation at that. "I see. You do know that if you…invade their territory, you may be made into an enemy of devil-kind, right? The Bael Clan is just as influential as us four Satans combined."
The Slayer listened silently. He knew that already, but that wasn't going to stop him.
"I know I can't stop you, but do me a favor and 'politely ask' for the return of your things first. Send a representative, or hell, go yourself if you'd like. If you can somehow prove that whatever they have is yours, then you'll be safe, politically I mean. Only the Baels will become your enemy."
The Slayer nodded in acknowledgement. He would rather not make an enemy of someone like Ajuka since he was a curious companion, so he would take the man's advice and 'ask' first. But if the Baels put up a big enough resistance, then he'd risk it. Nothing would keep him from his goals.
Ajuka took in a breath. "So that's it then? We're done here? You have nothing more you need to know?"
There was plenty, but not from here. The Slayer shook his head.
"Alright then. Let's get out of here. I'm already missing the comfort of my bed." Ajuka gestured towards the faraway library doors, and the group began the trek back silently.
When they got to the corridor, Ajuka made sure the security wouldn't be set off again, then the three stepped into the elevator. The car hummed as it began to leave the pocket dimension, and Ajuka took a moment to curiously scrutinize his two unlikely companions. He cleared his throat.
"I should probably mention that you're a neutral party here, Slayer, but devil-kind probably won't like you. I'll have to assign you an armed escort." Ajuka could feel the Slayer's eyes narrowing on him. "But don't worry about it. Tiamat, is an official ally, so I can assign her as your escort. That being said, I'd like Tiamat to give me reports on whatever you two get up to."
The Slayer relaxed at that. Tiamat, meanwhile, couldn't resist a smile. "Thank you, Ajuka. You have nothing to fear—I will take good care of Master."
Ajuka raised a brow. "Phrasing," he coughed. When Tiamat merely smirked, Ajuka coughed again. "Anyway, with all that being said, do you have any plans for the week? It is a week until the Rating Game, and I don't want to make assumptions, but I'm pretty sure that if you want to come to that, you'll have to refrain from doing anything to the Baels until then, Slayer."
Tiamat froze up at that. The Slayer remained silent and motionless. He did agree to that, didn't he? And he hated going back on his word. What were they going to do for a week?
After a moment, Ajuka looked concerned. "I mean, is there anything you want to do? Anything you want to try? For fun?"
Fun. What a…forgotten word. The Slayer was actually stumped for a moment. It was almost funny how nothing, not the strongest gods or the foulest demons could give him pause, but one word could stop him in his tracks.
What did he do in his free time? What could he do in his free time? What did he like doing?
It'd been so long. He tried to remember…
Aboard the Fortress of Doom, he'd always had a personal mancave filled with personal things he'd sparingly enjoyed—things that gave him definition beyond the Doom Slayer when he wasn't doing his job, when he wasn't RIPPING & TEARING.
He had always enjoyed reading, and whether it was literature or comic books, he'd collections of both, a personal library of sorts. He had always enjoyed playing metal on his guitars or listening to it on that record player of his. He enjoyed editing together clips of his 'glory kills' on his supercomputer. He enjoyed tinkering with his weapons and armor at his workstation, or forging weapons just because he could, and he enjoyed practicing with all those melee weapons. And of course, he had always enjoyed playing Doom and Doom II on that old PC he'd found in that one universe where he was apparently a character created by a kickass company called id Software.
Those were the things that kept him sane, the things that gave him humanity beyond the monster he knew he was. The Slayer thought back further—far further than any of that. What did he do back when he was a marine? A memory came to him, one in which he had fun, felt love playing with a small, feeble, but lovely little bunny.
The dryad offspring was warm in his back pocket…
The Slayer knew what he wanted to do. But he wasn't the only person in his little group. He nodded at Ajuka, then he looked at Tiamat.
The dragon was caught off guard. "Huh? What do I want to do?"
The Slayer nodded. That's what he just conveyed, was it not?
Tiamat put a hand to her chin and looked up in thought. "Well…I guess maybe I'd like to try some dragonapple foods. And I would also like to see if there are any products that can keep my scales shinier. Oh! I heard there's also some weapon expos that happen in the north this time of year."
"Well, whatever it is you end up doing, just please make sure to keep out of trouble," Ajuka said tiredly.
Tiamat half-nodded with a smile. "No promises." She crossed her fingers behind her back.
Ajuka smiled back. He hoped she was joking, but somehow he felt that she wasn't. Still, a comfortable silence fell over the group.
It didn't last.
Suddenly, both Tiamat and Ajuka stumbled when the elevator shook. The Slayer bent his knees to compensate for the change in equilibrium. He looked up when he heard the concerning sound of cracking stone.
"What the hell?" Tiamat recovered quickly, her eyes narrowing.
Ajuka looked around. "We're back in the Citadel…but something is amiss."
A distant boom reverberated throughout the Citadel as the elevator shook again, the lights flickering.
"Gee, what makes you say that?" Tiamat mumbled.
The Slayer's fists clenched. Without a word, he grasped both elevator doors and shoved them open forcefully, causing the metal to warp beyond repair. He was met with the waist-height ledge of a random floor—the floor of the elevator was stuck just below it. The Slayer climbed out of the elevator and looked around, finding himself in a massive hallway lined with windows on the left side. It was totally dark outside, save for the distant city lights. There was another explosion, and the building shook again.
"Ajuka, can you feel that?" Tiamat asked as she climbed out of the elevator.
"Yeah. This energy belongs to a subspecies of devils," Ajuka replied as he dusted himself off. "They almost feel like…"
Tiamat's eyes narrowed. "Succubi…"
Ajuka's eyes flitted to his peripherals when a magic circle spun into view. Sirzechs was calling him. He answered, "Sirzechs? What is happening?"
"Ajuka! Is the Slayer with you?"
Ajuka frowned. "Yeah, why?"
"The Citadel is surrounded on all sides by irate succubi. They're making a fuss about the Slayer. Can you get him down here?"
Ajuka glanced over at the Slayer to see him giving the devil a sidelong stare. "What? What do they want?"
"Him!"
The Slayer bristled. Someone already had a bone to pick with him? The building shook again, and the Slayer scowled in annoyance. Fine.
"Master!?"
By the time Tiamat said anything, the Slayer had already leapt through the nearest window and into the night sky, shattering the pane in a storm of glass. He could see hundreds of figures illuminated by lamp posts below, some floating outside the Citadel's walls and some on the ground within the Citadel's courtyard. A couple dozen threw colorful magics at each other that illuminated small areas as they zipped back and forth, some of which struck the Citadel in violent, reckless explosions. There were a lot of craters, and more than a few holes blown into the sides of the Citadel. It was probably how the elevator was damaged.
The Slayer's scowl deepened as his annoyance summoned rage. He accelerated towards the commotion with the intention of ending it, then he spun and landed like a meteor, his boots crashing against the ground hard enough to shatter the stone with a deafening crack and a powerful shockwave. Almost instantly, everyone in the courtyard staggered as the ground cracked beneath their feet, and those who were flying in the air froze in shock.
When the devils recovered, they were overwhelmed by the Slayer's aura, the owner of which slowly rose from a crouch, turning as he glared at every person in the area, daring them to attack. He noticed that about a fourth of them seemed to be devil guardsmen who were frozen in fear, but the rest were all beautiful, scantily clad women in various states of dress. Curiously, the longer he looked, the more he realized that only the guardsmen were afraid of him. The rest were petrified for some other reason.
He grunted in irritation when nobody moved for almost twenty straight seconds. He was here because people had a bone to pick with him, but now they all had cold feet?
"Slayer!" The Slayer looked towards the Citadel to see Sirzechs standing near one of the open doors. The man had a look of regretful, apologetic, resignation on his face. "I'm really sorry about this. Men, I want a circle around the Citadel. Nobody gets in, but if someone gets out, leave them be. I don't have the time to deal with them personally."
Without another look, Sirzechs slipped into the Citadel, leaving the courtyard in silence. After a second, the guardsmen took to the air and began leaving the courtyard, ignoring all of the women, who didn't even react to Sirzechs' words.
The Slayer frowned when he realized that all of the women were still locked on him.
"I-It's him!"
The Slayer's gaze snapped towards the voice, and he found himself eyeing a well-endowed devil with long orange hair, horns, wings, a spaded tail, and a flushed look on her face that he couldn't quite identify. She was beautiful—gorgeous to the extremes, and her body was built seemingly with the sole purpose of seduction.
"Oh my, he looks so delicious~ I can't wait, I've been looking for hours!"
The Slayer saw another devil, this one taller and even bustier, with smooth chocolate skin, green hair, a crazed expression on her face, and the same appendages as the other one. Now that he looked, almost every woman here had a spaded tail or wings.
"You've been looking for hours? Try a whole day! I'm taking him!"
"Oh please, I bet you haven't even touched a man yet."
The argument between the two started a chain reaction that spread throughout every woman present. The Slayer's attention was pulled every which way as the women began arguing about him for seemingly no reason. As the cacophony of voices grew louder, he considered firing the Super Shotgun to get everyone's attention, but eventually, someone made a move.
Among all the yelling, the Slayer managed to hear, "I can't TAKE IT ANYMORE! Get over here and fuck me, stud!"
There was a shift in the air. The Slayer turned in time to see a redhead rushing him, her arms outstretched and a wild look in her eyes. The attack was laughably slow, if it could even be called that.
The Slayer sidestepped the grab and caught the devil by the throat, and in one fluid motion, he slammed her throat first into the cracked pavement, causing it to crack further. The sound her body made was sickening to the ears, and everyone in the area gasped and quieted at the development. Then the redhead screamed.
The Slayer frowned. He was going easy on her—that slam wasn't even that forceful, all things considered. Whatever, he'd let her be an example of what was going to happen if all of these people didn't leave.
He gazed up at them, gauntlet still tight around the redhead's throat, but when he looked closely at their faces, he didn't see fear. He saw shock and excitement. The woman in his grasp screamed again, and that's when the Slayer realized—that wasn't a scream of pain.
Slowly, he looked back down at the redhead's face. Her mouth was wide open, tongue lolling out as her eyes rolled up into her skull, copious amounts of droll spilling from her tongue.
"O-Oh s-shit! I-I'm…I'M CUMMING!"
"..."
The Slayer's mind went blank. His rage receded from him entirely, and for the first time in a long while, it was replaced by pure, unadulterated bewilderment. What the fuck?
The redhead suddenly convulsed in his grip, and a rush of fluids was discharged from her nether regions. At the same time, her nipples, which had somehow managed to go bare in the last five seconds, began to secrete a white liquid.
Milk.
"Holy crap…I can feel the energy from here!"
"Ahn~ You're right! And it feels, so, good~"
"He's handling her like a garden-variety whore."
"All it took was a single touch…"
"I want him to be rough with me like that…mmm, I'd love it!"
"M-Me! Me next!"
The Slayer's gaze snapped to that last speaker, and he caught sight of another devil flying at him with a manic grin. Out of an entirely apathetic reflex, the Slayer spun, launching the redhead in his grasp at the incoming devil with enough force to break bones. The impact made a sickening crunch, and the devils collapsed atop one another in a pile of limbs. Then the other one screamed.
In just seconds, she began to convulse violently, orgasming in much the same way the redhead had. There were numerous gasps, then the rest of the hundreds of women still on their feet set their wolfish gazes on the Slayer.
His fingers twitched as the rage within him began to return. He didn't know what was happening, but for some reason it pissed him off. Slowly, he lowered into a stance, hands unballed and out by his sides. It looked like he was going to be fighting after all. But none of these women—succubi he remembered, were malicious. Just super fucking horny. So RIPPING & TEARING was off of the table. Fine, he could deal with that.
He waited for the next succubus to make a move. He didn't have to wait too long.
"My turn!"
The first succubus to face him giggled sultrily as she grabbed at his waist, but he simply shoved her headfirst towards the ground with a single hand. Her nose broke against the jagged cracks of the ruined pavement, but she still screamed in immense pleasure as the physical contact brought her to orgasm. The Slayer did his best to ignore it.
Another succubus came at his flank, and he easily dodged the grab, catching one of her wrists to pull her into a brutal punch across the cheek. Blood-stained spittle flew from her lips as the blow launched her into a crowd of succubi.
As they all dropped to the ground in states of orgasmic bliss, the Slayer sensed a succubus lunge at him from behind. He stepped out of the way, and as she stumbled past, he grabbed her by the shoulder, then stomped on the back of her calf, painfully forcing her to her knees. He only stopped for a second to headbutt an incoming succubus into the ground, then he punched the succubus from before in the back of the head, causing her to collapse in an orgasmic heap.
In the air, a couple of succubi began charging magic circles as a third dive-bombed the Slayer. He used her momentum against her when she reached him, catching her between the legs and over the shoulder before throwing her in a quick course-correction that launched her right at two more succubi who dashed for him on the ground. As the three went flying, the Slayer scooped up a body-sized chunk of the ground and hurled it at the succubi in the air, just in time to block both magic attacks. The magic did nothing to the boulder, and it smashed the two succubi right out of the sky, exploding in a rain of bits of debris.
The Slayer struck an incoming succubus in the gut with enough force to produce a large shockwave and send them flying, then his other fist struck another's face, making them tumble backwards head over heels in pain and pleasure. He uppercutted another hard enough to throw them into the air, but before they left his range, he grabbed their ankles and yanked them back down, slamming her onto the head of another eager semen demon.
A group of succubi approached from behind, and the Slayer turned and used the orgasming one in his grasp as a shield, then charged them, smashing through succubi after succubi relentlessly, bodies flying every which way, some with enough force to crack the Citadel's walls, others with enough momentum to soar out of the Citadel's courtyard entirely. Once he rammed through several dozen of them, he finished off the screaming devil in his grasp by throwing her at another.
As they fell to the ground, discharging in naked pleasure, the Slayer stopped for a moment and looked around. He had already dealt with a third of the succubi, but he was going slowly, and less violently. Although he was angry, for some reason, the way these devils reacted to his touch appalled him so much that he couldn't find it within himself to be angrier than he was. They weren't even trying to fight him, it was almost pitiful—depressing even. He almost sighed.
He shook his head. He might as well finish this fight and just get it over with. He settled back into his stance, ready to do what needed to be done, but then he noticed that the succubi had stopped attacking for some reason, at least, the two-thirds that weren't panting on the ground in a mix of blood and bliss. He followed some of their gazes and was surprised to look up and see his familiar hovering in the air, wings out, tail flicking, her hair shimmering with heat, and her eyes ablaze but her expression set in a neutral stare that still managed to convey her wrath. She had her arms crossed and managed to look both authoritative and disappointed at the same time.
Tiamat scanned the courtyard, and when her piercing eyes landed on her master, she closed her eyes and sighed. When she reopened them, she turned her attention to the succubi. "I see you've been keeping my Master company." Her voice boomed but somehow remained calm. "You've had your fun, now please, get lost."
The Slayer tilted his slightly at Tiamat's approach to the situation. He could see a few succubi stop to look at him before turning back to Tiamat, angry expressions on their faces. It didn't seem to be working.
"Like hell I'm getting out of here! Not until I've had some of that dick!"
"Yeah, what she said!"
The succubi who argued felt icy chills run down their spines when Tiamat fixed her unamused eyes on them. "Now now children! Calm down, calm down. I understand your desires—I do, trust me. But I regret to inform you that, if you do not remove yourselves from the premises of this establishment within the next sixty seconds, I will be contractually obligated to make sure you will never go virgin-hunting ever again."
That seemed to shake the succubi. Some went pale with dread, and more than a few—the smart ones decided that it wasn't worth the risk. They each gazed longingly at the Slayer, grasping helplessly at him before turning away and trudging off with their heads down in dejection. For the rest that remained, it only took a small flare of Tiamat's aura and the cold, unimpressed glare in her eyes to get them to move along.
By the time the Slayer relaxed, there were only a couple of succubi left standing around in the corners of the courtyard. Tiamat landed near him, flipping her hair as she walked towards him. She put a hand on her hip, half-smiling at her master in a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "Did you have fun?"
The Slayer grunted an annoyed negative.
"I don't know Master, it certainly looks like you did." She made a point to stare at all of the unconscious succubi that littered the area, still moaning in post-orgasmic satisfaction. "Master, did you know that succubi have an innate desire to hunt virgins?" She raised a brow and developed a teasing smirk. "Is there something you're not telling me~?"
The Slayer merely huffed. He was not opening up that can of guts.
"Oh… Oh my word." The two turned to see Ajuka with a hand clamped over his mouth.
"Yep," Tiamat nodded in agreement. "Can we get a clean-up crew here? Please?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'll get right on that…" Ajuka put his hands on his hips. "Uh, can I ask you two to stay a bit longer so I can get this mess sorted out?"
Tiamat looked at the Slayer. "Well, master?"
After a moment of consideration, the Slayer nodded. He needed a moment to process what the fuck just happened after all.
"Great," Ajuka nodded. He looked towards the Citadel's gates, where a few guards were peeking in at the carnage. "You there, get a team to clean this mess up. I want all of these succubi out of here ASAP…"
Day 3
The jingle of a bell resonated throughout an empty shop as a visitor stepped inside, a gentle, air-conditioned breeze pushing past them and into the outside world as the shop door shut behind them. In the backroom behind the counter, the shop's only shopkeeper perked up at that distinct jingle he'd heard countless times before, and a small smile slipped onto his face.
"Gimme one minute! I'll be right with you!" the shopkeeper called. It wasn't often that anyone came to visit his little hole-in-the-wall anymore, but the patrons that did visit were always amicable people, and he enjoyed their company. He hoped today would be no different. Once he finished his business, the shopkeeper stepped out of the room and into the main shop, smiling as he scanned the room for the visitor. "Hello, welcome to—huh." He gasped.
The shopkeeper's eyes went wide when his senses lit up like a bonfire. An overwhelming sense of dread filled him to the brim when he was blinded by the quasar of cosmic horror before him. The figure who'd entered the shop was titanic in size—at least it felt that way, and their body was covered in a menacing armor that seemed to bleed malice. Instinctive danger signals screamed at the shopkeeper to keep away from the threat, red and black creeping from the figure and eating away at the edges of his vision.
The shopkeeper choked. A chill went down his spine as heat crawled up his neck, sweat dripping down his face as his heart leapt up into his throat, his body aflame in sheer terror.
'That guy! Why is he here! He's going to kill me!' He couldn't move, couldn't even breathe. He saw the broadcast the other day, heard the news about what this man had done to the city's guard. How did he even get in the city? Why hasn't anybody stopped him? And most importantly, why was he in this shop of all the shops in the distract. What rotten luck! 'I need to call for help! The authorities—somebody! Anybody! Save me!'
In the center of the dainty shop, the Doom Slayer took no notice of the shopkeeper's plight, engrossed in reading the product label of the ultraviolet lamp in his hands.
It was strange to be picking something up like this again after eons of not doing it—concerning himself with the personal care of another living thing, he felt. It filled him with a sense of deja vu. The funny thing was, even after all that he'd been through, he couldn't say that he wasn't enjoying it.
The Slayer's fingers twitched as a distant, long faded memory resurfaced. He remembered pushing a little shopping cart that was much too small for him as a little bunny rested peacefully on his shoulder. The corner of his lips almost tugged upwards.
After the succubus debacle was over and done with, the Slayer had taken to researching the various needs of a dryad offspring to thrive. When the morning came, he set off to acquire what he could. Tiamat decided that she had some errands to run and left to take care of them, merely reminding him to call her through their soul-bond if he needed any assistance.
The Slayer let the ultraviolet lamp disappear from his hands. What else did a dryad need?
Apparently, dryads are born directly from their seeds as miniature versions of their adult selves, but to thrive better, they need to plant themselves an 'avatar tree'. The avatar tree is an extension of a dryad's being, and it absorbs nutrients from the soil and magic from the air. As the dryad becomes stronger and healthier, so does their tree and vice versa. They don't exactly need to eat, but they do enjoy plant-based nutrients, most notably nuts and berries, and it is ideal if their avatar tree is planted in high-quality soil. Most importantly, dryads thrive in environments of 'purity'. The Slayer had yet to define it, but apparently his body was a powerhouse of the stuff for whatever reason—just like Tiamat said.
The Slayer walked along the narrow aisles of the shop, browsing up and down the shelves. He still couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu that hit him every time he stopped to look at a product to make sure that it would be the best for his companion. It made him think… What was this dryad going to be to him? A companion? A pet? A friend?
A daughter…?
He grabbed a large, closed container filled with spring water, then looked to the side at the several bags of fertilizer and soil nearby. No…this wouldn't do at all.
If he was going to raise this dryad, then he was going to give it only the best.
The Slayer placed the container back down and walked over to the front desk where he caught sight of the trembling shopkeeper. Without a word, a gem of some high value he got from Tiamat appeared in his hand. He tossed it over, then with a nod, he left the shop.
A/N: Well that's done. I tried to revamp this, but I feel like I irreversibly fucked it up somehow. Shit.